The Importance of a Water Softener for Home

This blog features these key takeaways:

• Nearly all water in the United States begins as hard water.
• The toxins that cause hard water can have devastating effects on your health.
• A water softener can help eliminate many toxins that cause hard water.

Do you notice stains or smells coming from your water? Are your dishes coming out cloudy even after thoroughly washing and rinsing them? Like most US households, you probably have hard water – and you need a water softener for your home.

Before reaching your home, your water has picked up all sorts of dissolved minerals and contaminants. It stains your fixtures, dries out your skin, makes your hair brittle and corrodes your appliances – among many other things!

But a good water softener from Angel Water can help by eliminating those minerals, extending the life of your plumbing system and reducing the amount of money you spend on soap. If you want to stop drinking, bathing and cleaning with dissolved mineral contaminants, you need a water softener.

How Does Hard Water Form?

Nearly all water in America begins as hard water. Hard water occurs when it’s contaminated with dissolved minerals that are found pretty much everywhere underground. Potential mineral contaminants include calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, lead and limestone. Yes, you read that right – lead, a harmful toxin that can damage nearly every major body system, can be a potential cause of hard water. Yikes.

Picking Up Toxins Is Just Part of the Water Cycle

We all learned about the water cycle in school. But did you know this cycle is also responsible (at least in part) for hard water?

Here’s what happens:

• Water transfers from a liquid to a vapor due to evaporation
• Vapor passes through the air to form clouds
• The cloud grabs hold of minerals (like sulfur)
• This water falls back to the Earth in the form of acidic rain
• The acidic rain seeps into the ground, where it picks up and dissolves minerals like PCBs, bacteria, fertilizers and insecticides
• Sometimes, the water will also pick up toxins from sewage, industrial waste and agricultural run-off
• That toxin-filled water? It then flows into your water supply

Don’t want to drink fertilizer after your morning workout? Didn’t plan to shower in industrial waste before bed? Then, a water softener is a must-have.

What Are the Effects of Hard Water?

There are many ways that hard water can affect your family and your home. Most importantly, let’s discuss how hard water affects your family…

Effects on Human Health

Some of the contaminants found in hard water won’t prove fatal. Instead, they’ll dry out your skin and hair. Goodbye healthy, glowing skin – hello peeling and flaking! You can also say farewell to good hair days! Hard water will leave your luscious locks looking frizzy, dry and dull!

Being thrown into the woes of damaged skin and hair could be the least of your worries. Some contaminants that cause hard water can cause more severe health problems. For example, these toxins have been shown to cause reproductive failure, cardiovascular disease, renal dysfunction, diabetes and neural disease, among others.

Effects on Your Home

Of course, hard water also affects your home in numerous ways. Let’s dive into those now…

One of the first things you might notice is stains in your sink or bathtub. You may not realize it, but these stains are a byproduct of mineral deposits that are also building up inside your pipes and clogging your drains! That means more plumber visits and more money wasted on a problem you could solve with a water softener for your home.

Toxins don’t smell good, so all those in your hard water can make it stink. Areas of your home with toxin-filled hard water can also smell –like your toilets, sinks, showers and laundry rooms. If you think that foul hard water smells bad, imagine how bad it is for your body when you consume it!

Hard water isn’t only dangerous, but it’s also a money sink. You’ll need a lot more soap than you should to clean your dishes. Even when you use extra soap? Those cloudy water spots will be challenging to get off.

How Can a Water Softener for Your Home Help?

Choosing a high-quality water softener for your home helps eradicate many toxins causing hard water. For example, they’re instrumental in eliminating calcium and magnesium, which can cause many problems for your home and family in large amounts. When these problem minerals are removed, it can extend the life of your major home appliances by at least 30% – and reduce the risk of associated health issues.

Plus, you’ll use less soap to accomplish cleaning by up to 70%. This can help you save significant money in the long term and improve the environment by reducing associated plastic bottle usage.

Other key ways a water softener will improve your life include:

• Showering will be a much more pleasant experience
• Your home’s water won’t smell bad anymore
• No more soap scum and stains on sinks, tubs and toilets
• No more cloudy dishes
• Clothes will be softer, cleaner and retain their colors longer

A Water Softener for Your Home is a Worthy Investment in the Fight Against Toxins

A water softener for your home can help keep you and your family safe in the fight against toxins.  Plus, it’ll protect your appliances, dishes, clothes, etc. and save you tons of money in the long run. But it’s crucial to pick the right water softener for your home’s unique needs if you want the most comprehensive protection possible.

To learn more about what type of water softener for your home is best, call us today. One of our dedicated Angel Water team members is ready to help you make the healthiest, safest choice for your family!

Editor’s Note: This blog was originally published in June of 2016 and was updated in May of 2024.